Stagecraft Discussed: A Streetcar Named Desire

part one (of two)Tennessee Williams’ 1947

tragedy of the destruction of

Southern belle, Blanche

Dubois, is one of the most

performed plays of the 20th

Century [and probably 21st

too]. Famous for its heroine slumming it in a steamy, claustrophobic New Orleans ghetto and her subsequent conflict with alpha male brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, it is a cocktail of heat, desire,

deception and madness. It is the play that made the actor Marlon Brando

famous, whose legacy is an almost impossible role to surpass for all budding

wanna-be Stanleys.

Most productions follow the excellent 2013 production directed by Ethan

McSweeny, with its faithful reproduction of a typical 1947 rundown

neighbourhood and characteristic cramped two bedroom apartment. This

version, starring Lia Williams as Blanche, retained the period costumes and

the realism for which most productions strive. Its most impressive aspect,

apart from Williams’ stunning performance as Blanche, was to use the original

play’s prioritising of music as a way of joining separate scenes. Between scenes a vocalist, accompanied by a clarinettist, performed live songs that musically bridged scenes – both extending their mood and anticipating new ones.  

This stagecraft decision in not indicated in Williams’ [Tennessee this time]

stage directions despite the use of music being a significant indicator of

emotional tone in the play. In the play we encounter stage directions of this

nature:

“The music of the ‘blue piano’ grows louder.”

“The rapid, feverish polka tune, the ‘Varsouviana,’ is heard.”

“The sound of it turns into an approaching locomotive.”

“The hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound loudly.”

As Blanche’s mental state unravels the

music becomes more and more

intrusive, disrupting the realism of the

action with the surrealism of her

madness. In McSweeny’s production,

the live jazz and blues performances further emphasised and articulated both the sultry, sensuality of the New Orleans location and the tragic sadness of Blanche’s breakdown.

This musical colour was also matched

by vibrant colourful lighting where deep

sensuous purples and rich passionate

reds created the type of world corresponding to Blanche’s projected self-

delusions.

However, a radically

different approach to the

play’s setting was taken

by director Benedict

Andrews in 2014.

Breaking with tradition, he

created an ultra-modern

New Orleans setting. His approach to the stagecraft of the play was to ditch the realism and emphasise the

artifice of the spectacle. To this end by staging the play in the round (i.e.

the audience surrounds the spectacle of the drama itself) his production

destroyed the so-called ‘fourth wall’ that the audience usually occupies.

Additionally, his entire stage set rotated at slow speed so that the audience

was confronted with a constantly moving performance that never allowed the

audience to get fully comfortable. To accommodate this, the two-room

apartment became a space with no walls but with furniture and doors. Seen

from far away it resembled a type of sterile cage. While allowing maximum

visibility for the almost intrusive audience, it also emphasised the complete

lack of privacy that Blanche suffers in her new cramped abode.

Overall, the audience became much more engaged as it strained to see the

expressions of the actors, to hear their lines and to put all these pieces

together. The overall effect was to increase the voyeuristic nature of the audience and cleverly draw them closer to the action. This blending

together or unrealistic setting with realistic action also emphasised the

unstable boundaries between reality and fantasy, safety and threat that

characterise the play. The transgression of these supposedly separate

boundaries as indicated by William’s use of music and flashback [the fatal

gunshots that echo through the play and Blanche’s fraying mind] thus found

reinforcement through the staging of this production.